i^\ F. Malebranche Concerning to ceafe to Exift. God loves only order, the Sinner is not in order, and therefore hot in the Love of God. The Sinner therefore cannot fubfift, fince the fubfiftence of Creatures depends on the will of the Creator •, but he wills not that they fhould exift: if he does not love them. The Sinner cannot by himfelf regain loft order, becaufe he cannot juftifie himfelf, and all that he can fuffes- cannot atone for his offence. He muft then be reduc'd to nothing. But as it is unreafonable to think that God makes a Work to annihilate it, or to let it fall into a ftate worfe than annihila- tion, 'tis evident that God would not have made Man, nor permitted his Sin,, which he forefaw, unlefs he had had in view the Incarnation of his Son-, in whom all things fubfift, and by whom the "Univerfc receives a Beauty, a Perfection, and greatnefs worthy of the Wifdom and the Power of its Author.
Man, then, may be confider'd after his Sin withouta Reftorer, but under the Expectation of one.1 In considering him without a Reftorer, we plainly fee he ought to have no Society with God; that that he»is unable of himfelf to make the leaft.approaches to him; that God muft needs repel him, and feverely ufe him, when he offers to leave the Body to unite himfelf to him: that is to fay, that Man after the Sin muft lofe the power of getting clear of fenilble impreffions, and motions •* bf concupjfcence. He ought Hkewife to be annihilated, for the forern.enuon'd Reafons. But he expects a Reftorer, and if we conlider him under that Expectation, we Tee ckarly that he muft fub- fift. He and his Pojterity, whence his Reftorer is to arife • and thu^ it is necefiafty tnat Man afCer his Sin preierve ftill the power of diverfely moving all thofe parts of the body,, whofe motion may be ferviceable to his Prefervation. < 'Tistrue that Men abufe daily the power they have of producing certain motions; and that their power of moving their tongue for Example, feverai ways, is the.cauie of innumerable Evils. But if it be minded, that power will appear abfolutely necelfary to keep up Society, to comtOrt one another in the Exigences of thU prefent Life, and to inftruct them in Religion, which affords hope of a Redeemer:, for whom the World fubfifts. If we carefully examine what are the mo-* tions we produce in us, and in what parts of our Body we can affect them, we fhall clearly fee that God has left us the power of our Body no farther than is neceflary to the prefervation of Life, and the cherifhing and upholding civil Society. For example, the Beating of the Heart, the Dilatation, of the Midriff, the periftaltick motion of the Guts, the Circulation of the Spirits, and Bloody and the diverfe motions of the Nerves in the Paffions, are produc'd in us without ftaying for the order of the Soul. As they ought to be much what the fame on all occafions, nothing obliges God to fubmit them now to the will of Man. But the motions of the Mufcles imploy'd in ftir- ricg the Tongue, the Arms, and Legs, being to change every minute, according to the almoffc infinite diverfky of good, or evil Objects all about us, it was necelfary thefe motions fhould de- pend on the will of Men.
But we are to remember, That God acts always by the fimpleft ways: and that the Laws of Nature ought to be general •, and that fo, God having given us the power of moving our Arm and Tongue, he ought not to take away that of fhiking a Man unjuflly, or of flandering or re- proaching him. For if our natural Faculties depended on our Dcfigns, there would be no Uni- formity nor ceitain Rule in the Laws of Nature: which however muft be moft fimpie and general,' to be anfwerable to th^ Wifdom of God, and iuitable to Order. So that God, in purfuance of his Decrees, chufes rathetf to caufe the Materiality of Sin, as fay the Divines, or to make ufe of the Injuftice of Men, as fays one of the Prophets, than by changing his Will to put a ftop to the Dis- orders of Sinners. But he defers his revenging the injurious Treatment, which they give him, till the time when it fhall be permitted him to do it, without fwerving from his immutable Decrees; that is to fay,when Death having corrupted the Body of thevoluptuous,God fhall be freed from the neceflity he has impos'd on hiriifelf, of giving them Senfations and Thoughts relating to it.
OBJECTION againjr the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles.
Original Sin not only enflaves Man to his Body, and fubjects him to the Motions of Concupi- fcence, but likewife fills him with Vices wholly Spiritual: not only the Body of the Infant before Baptifm being corrupted, but alfo his Soul, and all his Faculties ftain'd and infected with Sin. Though theRebellion of the Body be the principle of fome grofTerVices,fuch as Intemperance and Vn- clcannefs, yet it is not the Caufe of Vices purely Spiritual, as are Tride and Envj. And therefore Original Sin is fomething very different from Concupifcence,vihich is born with us: and is more likely the Privation of Grace, or of Original Righteoufnefs.
ANSWER.
ANSWER.
I acknowledge, That Children are void of Original Righteoufnefs; and I prove it, in mewing," That they are not born upright, and that God hates them. For methinks one cannot give a clearer Idea of Righteoufnefs and Vprightnefs, than to fay a Will is upright- when it loves Cod, and that it is crooked and perverfe when it draws towards Bodies. But if by Righteoufnefs, or Original Grace, we unnderfland fome unknown Qualities, like thofe which God is faid to have infus'd into the Heart of the firft Man, to adorn him, and render him pleafing in his fight; it is ftill evident, that the Privation of this is not Original Sin; for to fpeak properly, that Priyation is not heredi- tarily The Search after Truth. 125 iarily tranfmitted. If Children have not thefe Qualities, 'tis becaufe God does not give 'em them; and if God does not beftow them, 'tis becaufe they are unworthy to receive them:. and 'tis that Vmortbincfs ivhich is tranfmitted, and which is the Caufb of the Privation of Original Right eoufnefs: And fo that! Vmvorthincfs is properly Original Sin.
Now this Unworthinefs, (which confiits, as I have (hewn, in this: That the Inclinations of Children are actually corrupt, and their Heart bent upon the Love of Bodies j ) this, I fay, is really in them. 'Tis not thi Imputation of the Sin of their Father; they are actually themfelves in a diforder'd State. In like manner as thofe who are juftify'd by J E S U S C H R I S T, of whom Adam was the Type, are not juftify'd by Imputation: But are really reflor'd to Order, by an in- wardRighteoufnefs,different from that^of our L O R D,though it be he that has merited itforthem.
The Soul has but two natural or eifential Relations; the one to God, and the other to her Body. Now 'tis evident, That the Relation, or Union which fhe has with God, cannot vitiate or corrupt her: and therefore fhe is neither vicious, nor corrupt, at the fir ft inftant of her Creation; but by the relation fhe has to her Body. Thus one of the two muft needs be faid, either that Pride and other, which we call Spiritual Vices, can be communicated by the Body, or that Children are not fubject to them at the moment of their Birth: I fay at the moment of their Birth; for I do not deny but thefe ill Habits are eafily acquired. Though pure Intelligences had no other relation than to God, and at the inftant of their Creation were fubjeft to no Vice, yet they fell into Diforder. But the Caufe of it was their making a wrong ufe ot their Liberty, whereof Infants have made no life at all: For Original Sin is not of a free Nature.
But to come to the Point; I am of Opinion, That they err, who chink that the Rebellion of the Body is the Caufe but of grofs Vices, fuch as Intemperance and Vncleannefs • and not of thofe which are call'd Spiritual, as Pride and Envy: and I am perfiiaded there is that Correspondence between the Difpofition of our Brain, and thofe of our Soul, as that thereis not perhaps any cor- rupt Habit in the Soul, but what has its Principle in the Body. " St. Paul in feveral places terms by the Name of the Law, the Wifdom,t\\Q Defires, and the Works of the Flefh; whatever is contrary to the Law of the Spirit. He fpeaks not of Spiritual Vices- He reckons amongft the Works of the Flefh, Idolatry, Herefies, Dijfentions, and many other Vices which go by the Name of Spiritual. To give way to Vainglory, Wrath and Envy is, in his Doctrine, to follow the Motions of the Fkfh. In fhort, It appears from the Expreffions of that Apoftle, That all Sin proceeds from the Flefh: not that the Flefh commits it, or that the Spirit of Man, without the Grace, or Spirit of CHRIST, can do good: but becaufe the Flefh ads up- on the Spirit in fuch a manner, that the latter works no evil without being follicited to it by the former. Hear what St. Paul fays in the Epiftle to the Romans, 1 delight in the law of the Lord, af- Rora,c*7" ter the inward Man. But I fee another law in my members warring againft the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of fin, which is in my members. And a little lower; So then with my mind I my felfferve the law of God, but with the flefh the law of fin; He fpeaks after the fame manner in feveral places of his Epifiles. So that Concupifcence, or the Rebellion of the Body, not on- ly difpofes us to Carnal or fhameful Vices, but likewife to thofe which are thought to be Spiritual. ' I here (ball endeavour to prove it by a fenfible manner.
When a Man's in Converfation, it is certain, as I think, that fome Tracks are machinally pro- due'd in his Brain, and Motions excited in his Animal Spirits, that beget in his Soul corrupt Thoughts and Inclinations. Our Thoughts on thefe Occafions are not naturally conformable to uTnith, nor our Inclinations to Order, T hey rife in us for the Good of the Body, and of the pre- fent Life, becaufe 'tis the Body that exites them: So they obliterate the Prefence of God, and the Thoughts of our Duty out of our Mind; and tend only to recommend us to other Men, and make them confider us as worth their Affection and Efteern. Therefore this fecret Pride, which kindles in us on fuch Occafions, is a Spiritual Vice, whofe Principle is the Rebellion of the Body.
For Example; If the Perfons, in whofe Prefence we are,are rais'd to Honorary Pofts and Titles, the Luftre of their Grandeur both dairies and dejects us. And as the Traces which their Pre- fence imprints on our Brain are very deep, and the Motions of the Spirits rapid; they radiate, as I may fay, through all the Body; they fpread themfelves on the Face, and give a fenfible Teftimo- ' ny of our Reverence and Fear, and our moft latent Sentiments. Next, Thefe Traces, by the fenfible Expreffions of our inward Motions, work upon the Perfon that obferve us; whom they difpofe to Sentiments of Candour and Civility, by the Traces which our refpedrful and timorous Deportment machinally produce in his Brain r which Traces, rallying on his Face, and difarrri him of that Majefty which appear'd in't, and give the reft "of his Body fuch an Air and Pofture, as at length rid us of our Goncern, and re-embolden us. Thus by a mutual and frequent Reper- cuflion of thefe fenfible Expreffions, our Air and Behaviour at laft fettles in that fafhion which the governing Perfon withes.
But as all the Motions of the Animal Spirits are attended with Motions of the Soul, and the Tracesof the Bra mare purfu'd by Thoughts of the Mind; 'tis plain, that fince we are depriv'd of the Power of expunging thefe Traces, and flopping thefe Motions, we find our felves follicited, by the over-ruling Prefence of the Perfon, to embrace his Opinions, andfubmitto his Defires, and to be wholly devoted to his Pleafure, as he indeed is difpos'd to ftudy ours, but in a very different manner. And for this Reafon worldly Converfation quickens and invigorates the Concupifcence of Pride, as difhoneft Commerce, feafting and enjoying fenfible Pleafures, ftrengthen Carnal Concu- pifcence; which is a Remark very neceffary for Morality.
'Tis of great Ufe and Advantage, that there are Traces in the Brain, which inceffantly repre° I i tent fent Man to himfelf, to mak e him careful of his Perfon: and that there are others, which ferve &S make and preferve Society, fince Men are not made to live alone. But Man having loft the Power of eraling them when he pleas'd, and when convenient, they perpetually provoke him to EviL' As he cannot hinder their reprefenting him to himfelf, he is continually follicited to Motions of Pride and Vanity, to defpife others, and center all things in himfelf. And as he is not Matter of thofe Traces which importune him, to keep up Society with others, he is agitated by Motions of Complaifance, Flattery, Jealoufie, and the like Inclinations, as it were. in fpight of him. Thus; all thofe, which go by the Name of Spiritual Vices, derive from the Flefb; as well as Vnchaflnefs and Intemperance. ' There are not only in our Brain, Difpofitions which excite in us Senfations and. Motions, with" reference to the Propagation of the Species, and the Prefervation of Life \ but it may be a greater, Number that ftir up in us Thoughts and Paffions, with refpedt to Society, to our own private Ad- vancements, and to thofe of our Friends. We are by Nature united to all furrounaing Bodies,' and by them, to all the things that any way relate to us: But we cannot be united,to them, fave by fome Difpofitions in our Brain. Having not therefore the Power of withftanding the Action of thefe natural Difpofitions, our Union turns into Dependence, and we grow fubjedt through our, Body to all kind of Vices.
We are not pure Intelligences: all the Difpofitions of our Soul produce refpe&ive. Difpofitions in our Body, and thofe in our Body mutually excite others like them in our Soul. Not that the Soul is abfolutely incapable of receiving any thing, except by the Body ^ but becaufe, as long as She is united to ft, (he cannot admit any 'Change in her Modifications, without making fome Alte- ration in the Body. 'Tis true, flie may be enlightned, or receive new Ideas, and the Body need not have any hand in it; but that's becaufe pure Ideas are not Modifications of the Soul, as I have prov'd in another place. I fpeak not here of fenfible Ideas, becaufe thefe include a Senfation, ancl every Senfation is a mode of the Souls exijling.
Tl^e Second OBJECTIO N againft the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles} As by one If Original Sin defcends, by reafon of the Communication which is found between the Brain of Man fin en- the Mother, and that of her Infant, the tjMother is the caufe of the Sin: and the Father has no.
tred into VuZt0u part in it. Yet St. Paul teaches us, that by Man came fin into the World '■: He does not fo much as &c. ' fPeak of the Woman. Therefore, &c.
ANSWER.
Rom. 5 iwtsjha- David allures us, that his Mother conceived him in iniquity: and the Son of Syrach fays, Of tho pen in hi- Woman came the beginning of Sin, and by her we all dy. Neither of them fpeak of Man. St. Paul iTfmhatk on the contrary feys,that by Man,Sin entred into the World,and fpeaksnot of the Woman. How will my Mother l^e Teftimonies accord, and which of the two is to be juftify'd, if it be neceflary to vindicate conceh'd either. In difcourfe we never attribute to the Woman any thing peculiar to the Man, wherein flie wf. has no part: But that is often afcrib'd to the Man which is proper to the VVoman, becaufe her, Ec.2<*25* ^k*'"' *s her Matter and /#«<*. We fee that the Evangelifis, and alfo the Holy Virgin, call Jo-{ Luke 2. feph tne father of Jefus, when (he fays to her Son, Behold thy Father and I have fought thee forrowingi 48. Therefore feeing we are affiir'd by Holy Writ, that Woman has fubje&ed us to Sin and Death, it is abfolutely neceflary to believe it; nor can it be thrown upon the Man; But though it teftifies in feveral places that 'tis by Man that Sin enters into the World, yet there is not an equal neceffity to believe it, fince what is of the Woman is commonly attributed to the Man. And if we were oblig'd by Faith to excufe either the Man, or the Woman, it would be more reafonable to excufe the former than the latter.
However 1 believe thefe forecited pafTages are to be litterally explain'd, and that we are to fay, both the Man and Woman are the true caufes of Sin, each in their own way. The Woman, in that by her. Sin is communicated; it being by her that the Man begets theChildren; and theMan; in that his Sin is the caufe of Concupifcence •, as his a&ion is the caufe of the fecundity of the Wo- man, or of the communication that is between her and her Infant.
It is certain, that 'tis the Man that impregnates the Woman, and confeyiently is the caufe of that communication, between her Body and the Child's, fince that communication is the Principle of its Life. Now that Communication not only gives the Child's Body the difpofitions of its Mo* ther's, but alfo gives its Mind the difpofitions of her Mind.- Therefore we may fay with St.?<*«/,' that by one Man fin entred into the world; and neverthelefs by reafon of that communication we may fay, that Sm came from a Woman, and by her we all dye: -and that our Mother has conceived us in M- qutty, as is faid in other places of Scripture.
Itmay be faid perhaps, that though Man had not finn'd, yet Woman had produe'd finful Children; for having her felf finn'd, fbe had loft the Power God gave her over her Body: and thus, though Man had remain'd Innocent, fhe had corrupted the Brain, and confequently the Mind of her Child, by reafon of that communication between them.
But this furely looks not very probable. For Man whilft righteous, knowing what he does, can-^ not give the Woman that wretched fecundity of conceiving finful Children. If he remains Righte- ous The Search after Truth. j'^W 6ns, he wills not any Children but for God, to whom Infant Sinners cannot be well pleafing • for I fuppofe not here a Mediator. I grant however that in that cafe the Marriage had not been diflblv'd and that the Man had known his Wife. But it is certain, that the Body of the Woman belong'd to her Husband, fince it was taken out of his:, and was the fame Flefh. Duo in came una. It is moreover certain, that Children are as much the Fathers as the Mothers. Which being fo, we can't be perfuaded that the Woman would have loft the Power over her Body, if her Husband had not finn'd as well as (he. For if the Woman had beendepriv'd of that Power whilft the Man re- main'd Innocent, there had been this Diforder in the Univerfe, that an upright Man mould have a corrupt Body, and finful Children. Whereas it is againft Order, or rather a contradiction, that a juft God fhould punifh a perfectly Innocent Man. And for this reafon Eve feels no involuntary and rebellious Motions, immediately after her fin; as yet fhe is not afliam'd of her'Nakednefs, nor goes to hide her felf. On the contrary, fhe comes to her Husband, though naked as her felt} her Eyes are not yet open'd; but fhe is ftill as before, the abfolute Comptroller of her own Body. Order requir'd that immediately after her Sin, her Soul fhould be diftnrb'd by the rebellion of her Body, and by the fhame of her own and her Husband's nakednefs -, for there was no reafon that God fliould any longer fufpend on her behalf the Laws of the Communication of Motions: as I have laid in the feventh Article. But becaufe her Body is her Husband's, who is as yet Innocent - fhe is not punifh'd in this Body ^ but this punifhment is deferr'd till the time that he fhould eat liimfelf of the Fruit which fhe prefented him: Then it was they both began to feel the re- bellion of their Body; that they faw they were naked, and that fhame oblig'd them to cover themfelves with Fig-leaves. Thus we muft fay, that Adam was truly the caufe of Original Sin and Concupifcence, fince it was his Sin that depriv'd both himfelf and his Wife c*f their power o- Gen* c'3' ver their Body ^ by which defectivenefs of power the Woman produces in the Brain of her Child fuch tracks as corrupt its Soul at the very inftant of its Creation.
OBJECTION againft the Twelfth Article.
'Tis but random divining to fay the communication between the Mother's and the Infants Brain is neceflary or ufeful to the conformation of the foetus. For there is no fuch Communication be- tween the Brain of an Hen, and that of her Chickens, which notwithstanding are perfectly and compleatly form'd, ANSWER.
I anfwer that in the feventh Chapter of the Second Book, I have fufficiently demonftrated, that Communication, bytheufel make of it, in explaining the Generation of Monfters; as alfo cer- tain" natural Marks and Fears deriv'd from the Mother. For 'tis evident, that a Man who fwoons away at the fight of a Snake, becaufe his Mother was frighted with one when fhe bore him in her Womb, could not be fubjedt to that Infirmity, but becaufe formerly fuch Traces had been imprint- ed on bisBrain,as thefe which open upon feeing aSnake,and that they were accompany'd with a like Accident. And herein I am no Diviner •, for I do not venture to determine wherein that Com- munication precifely confifts. I might fay it was perform'd by thofe Fibres which the Fcetut (hoots into the Matrix of the Mother, and by the Nerves wherewith that partis, very probably, fill»d; and in faying fo I fhould no more divine, than would a Man who had never feen the Engines calPd La Santaritaine, in affirming there were Wheels and Pumps to raife the Water. Nevertbelefs I Ldsaman- can't fee why divining is not fometimes allowable, provided a Manfets not up for a Prophet, and uine upon {peaks not in too pofttive a ftrain; I rather think he is permitted to fpeak his Thoughts, whilft he Pomneuf pretends not to be Infallible, nor Lords it unjuftly over others by dogmatical Decifions, or by the ln nTis- help of Scientific^ Terms. 'Tis not always divining to fpeak of things which are not vifible, and which contradict Prejudices, If fo be we fpeak no more than we eafily conceive, and which readi- ly makes its way into the mind of others who defire to underftand Reafon.
I fay then, that fuppofing the general Laws of the Communication of Motions, fuch as they are there is great Probability that the particular Communication of the Mother's Brain, with that of her Infant, is neceffary to form its Body, in a requifite manner; or at leaft is neceflary to give the Brain of the Infant certain difpofitions, which ought to vary according to different Times and Countries, as I have explain'd in the fame Chapter.
I confefs there is no Communication between the Brain of an Hen* and that of a Chicken, in the Egg, which neverthelefs is perfectly well form'd. But it ought to be obferv'd, that the Chicken is farther advanc'd in the Egg, when the Hen lays it, than the Foetus when it defcends into the Matrix: which may well be concluded, fince there goes lefs time to the hatching Chickens, than there goes to the bringing forth Whelps; though the Belly of the Bitch being very hot, and her Blood in perpetual motion, the Whelps fhould be fooner form'd than the Eggs hatch'd, were not the Chickens farther advanc'd in their Eggs, than the Whelp in their Cicatricles. Now there is great probability that the formation of the Chicken in the Egg, before it was laid, was effected by the communication I am fpeaking of.
I anfwer in the fecond place, that the growth of the Body of Fowls, is poffibly more conformable to the general laws of Motion than that of four-footed Animals; and that fo the communication of the Females Brain, with that of her young ones, is not fo neceflary in Fowls as in other Animals: For ia8 F. Malebranche Concerning For the reafon that makes that communication neceflary, is probably the remedying the defect of thefe general Laws, which in fome particular Cafes, are infufficient to regulate the Formation and Growth of* Animals., I anfwer laftly, there is no fuch neceflky, to the prefervation of the Life of Birds, that they fhould have fo many particular Difpofitions in their Brain as other Animals. They have Wings to fly harm, and to fecure their feed:, and have no, need of all that particular Mecbanifm which is the principle of the cunning, and docility of fome domeftick Creatures. Therefore the old ones need not inftrud their young in many things, as they breed them, nor capacitate them to be taught ma- \ hy afterwards,.by giving them a difpofition of Brain that's fit for Docility. Thofe who breed young Dogs for the Game, fometimes find thofe which naturally let, meerly from the inftrudion they receiv'd from their Damm, who often usM to fet with them in her Belly. There is a great difference almoft always obfervable in the breed of thefe Creatures, fome of which are much more Docil and Tradable than others of the fame Species.But I do not think there ever was a Fowl that taught any thing extraordinary to her young; that a Hen, for Example, ever hatch'd a Chic- ken who could do any thing but what they all do naturally. Birds then are not fo tradable or ca- pable of Inftrudion as other Animals. The Difpofition of their Brain is not ordinarily capable